‘Greenland’ Category

Students, school faculty, community members, law-enforcement officials and representatives from all branches of the military gathered on the afternoon of Friday, May 25, to honor three of Greenland’s fallen sons with the dedication of an outdoor stone monument.

By Susan McCarthy GREENLAND- Eight high school students took a break from solving real life problems in the classroom to rake in a few awards in Hot Springs at the annual Environmental and Spatial Technologies (EAST) Conference which was held March 1-3. After spending about three and a half hours setting up a booth they designed themselves, the students presented their EAST projects to judges, students and visitors at the conference which was attended by approximately 2,000 students from 194 schools throughout the nation. “I liked the experience of having to be professional…only 8 of us were there and having to represent the whole school. If we screw up, the whole school looks bad,” said sophomore Lori Starr who attended the conference for the second time. Ryan Duchanois and Dustin Oakes took first place in the ESRI competition for their bus mapping project. The duo examined Greenland’s bus routes and using a mapping process, identified the most efficient routes, reducing carbon monoxide and gas consumption while getting the kids to and from school faster. Duchanois said the duo received about $25,000 worth of software and a map book as prizes. Bret Arnold and Dustin Barton won first place in the …

By Susan McCarthy Greenland- Infrastructure improvements and increasing a sense of community are top priorities for Greenland’s incoming Mayor, Bill Groom who will be sworn in on Jan. 3 at the Washington County Courthouse. Groom, who has served as a city council member for the past four years is anxious to begin working on plans to sell his city to businesses and development and feels a number of infrastructure issues need to be addressed to do that. “We’ve got the location. We just got to refine it where we can throw out the welcome mat,” said Groom. Topping Groom’s list is getting Greenland residents to renew a one percent sales tax in a special election the city will hold on March 7, 2011. He said the tax will help fund much needed street and sewer repairs. Groom maintains that much of that tax will be paid by people who do not live in Greenland since much of the city’s tax revenue is generated from businesses located near I-540. Groom said many improvements have been on the “back burner” since the economy’s downturn. “I want to put it back on the front burner.” He specifically says he’d like to see the …

By Susan McCarthy susan@wcobserver.com Greenland- Questions raised just one day after last week’s run-off election for Greenland’s last city council seat have resulted in the the election and its winner being deemed invalid after it was learned that the winner, Matt Partain, did not live in Greenland’s Ward 4. Ironically, doubt about whether Partain lived within Ward 4 was brought to light by Tom Hendricks who was appointed to the council seat Partain was vying for when Mark Myers resigned in August after he moved out of Ward 4. “He worked the election and raised the question last Wednesday,” said Danny Wright, who serves as the attorney for the City of Greenland. Wright said he met on Monday, immediately following Thanksgiving weekend, with Mayor John Gray, Mayor-Elect Bill Groom, and City Clerk Donna Cheevers. “The election is void. He did not legally run. He cannot serve,” said Wright who indicated Partain lives in Ward 2. “The guy across the street lives in Ward 4.” “When you have oddly drawn districts, mistakes can happen,” said Gray. “It’s odd it didn’t get caught before the election.” Wright said that technically it is the responsibility of the candidate running for office to know …